Great Varda (Earth-616)
| Relatives = | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = New York City, New York | Gender = Male | Height = | Weight = | Eyes = | Hair = Brown | UnusualFeatures = | Citizenship = German | MaritalStatus = | Occupation = Puppeteer, spy | Education = | Origin = Human | PlaceOfBirth = | Creators = | First = U.S.A. Comics Vol 1 9 | Death = U.S.A. Comics Vol 1 9 | HistoryText = The Great Varda was a Nazi spy who was active during World War II. By the summer of 1943, he took his puppetry talent to the United States and used it as a cover for his spy operations. His puppet show reenacting the story of William Tell became a popular lounge feature at the Black Cat Club in Manhattan during this time, and he used the performance for his subversive activities. When the club was visited by high ranking military officials or scientists of value, he would have make his puppet of William Tell fire a drug tipped arrow into the audience member of interest. The drug simulated Dengue fever, and those injected with it would seemingly perish. Medical knowledge at the time would lead doctors to have the body quarantined and buried immediately without embalming. This allowed Varda and his men to recover the inert bodies from the cemetery after they were buried and take them back to his hideout. There they were given the antidote and made prisoners of the spies. When Major Jamison of military intelligence was getting close to learning about Varda's operation, he sent one of his men to Camp Lehigh to eliminate him, but he was stopped by Captain America and Bucky. The spy fell down a cliff to his death before the two heroes could learn anything, and so, they began trying to track down Jamison. They found the intelligence agent after he returned from the Black Cat Club, and he soon "died" before their eyes. Cap and Bucky were briefly quarantined as a safety measure, however they deduced that Varda was behind the poisoning and went to examine the body. They arrived just after Jamison's grave had been robbed. With no other choice, Captain America went to the Black Cat Club and sent a note backstage disclosing what he knew to Varda. Sure enough, the spy had Cap struck with the drugged arrow, and after his "death" and subsequent funeral, Varda had the body dug up and brought back to his headquarters, unaware that Bucky was following them. When Captain America was revived, Bucky smashed in through the skylight to try and capture the spies, but both heroes were subdued and bound up. Varda then decided to use them as life sized puppets to reenact the William Tell story, only with more fatal results. However, Captain America tensed his muscles as he was being tied up, giving him slack enough to have better control over his aim while Varda was manipulating his arms. In this way, when Varda attempted to force Captain America to fire a bow and arrow at his young sidekick, the hero instead aimed hire striking Varda fatally with the arrow meant for Bucky. Freed with the aid of Jamison, Captain America and Bucky rounded up the remaining spies. | Powers = | Abilities = | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = Varda used two marionette style puppets fashioned after William Tell and his son. The William Tell puppet could functionally fire a scale model bow and arrow. Varda tipped these arrows with a drug that simulated sudden infection and death resembling the symptoms of Dengue fever. Those injected with the drug entered a death-like state of suspended animation until they were restored to normal with an antidote. | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = | Marvel = | Wikipedia = | Links = }}